We’re currently in the process of narrowing down finalists for the $1,000 ALF Scholarship, and we thought it would be a great idea to share some of the best essay submissions we’ve received on our blog. As part of the application process, entrants were asked if they would allow their story to be shared on our blog, and if so, how they would like to be attributed. Today’s essay comes from B.C.
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I desperately scrambled to the top of my concrete bunk in order to escape the torrent of urine seeping into my cell and covered my ears to drown out the racist slurs echoing throughout the halls from the white supremacist in the next cell over. I should have been studying for finals and preparing for my graduation from a prestigious university less than two weeks away. Instead, I was cowering in a Compton jail cell. This was just the beginning of a journey that taught me valuable lessons in discrimination, tenacity, humility, compassion, patience, inequality, leadership and maturity. Ultimately, this journey has led me to discover my true passion in life of becoming a public interest attorney and helping the less fortunate and disadvantaged.
The 5 days I spent in jail opened my eyes to the rampant discrimination that occurs in the criminal justice system. Upon my arrival, I overheard my arresting officer instruct a guard to “give me the royal treatment because I went to a prestigious university and probably had money and could sue.” I was given my own cell and was not stripped searched, and for the most part I was segregated from general population.
I learned tenacity after I was released from jail and lived with my father for several months in the desert. I was convicted of 2 felony counts of forging the Seal of the State of California for manufacturing fake IDs for college students and sentenced to 3 years of probation and 250 hours of community service. My active felon status made finding work particularly difficult, so I had to go beyond my comfort zone and work manual labor jobs that I once thought beneath me in oppressive 105+ degree heat.
I learned humility through my living situations after moving back to Los Angeles to seek better job opportunities. When I first arrived, I slept on the ground in an 8ft x 4ft section of a squalid 300 ft studio apartment. I shared the space with a Bangladeshi immigrant and a middle-aged failed comedian who was addicted to painkillers. The conversations I had with the tenants opened my eyes to the unique struggles and sacrifices immigrants go through, and gave me a window into a life full of strife and broken dreams, allowing me to witness first-hand the constant struggle that a drug addict goes through.
I learned compassion during my struggle the find a stable job. During much of this time I was forced to go on food stamps, and at one point had to scavenge for expired food in the dumpsters of supermarkets. There I developed friendships with other homeless men, and this made me realize that many of the homeless were not lazy and did not choose to be homeless, but rather suffered from serious issues that they had no control over, and with the right sort of help may be able to overcome.
I learned patience through completing the requirements of my probation. I had to complete 250 hours of hard labor doing landscaping and picking up garbage on the side of active freeways. There was a single van, and on rare occasions 2, that would pick up participants from a line of numbered spaces laid out in a parking lot Monday through Thursday. There was far more demand for spaces than supply, so participants had to arrive around 4am to secure a spot. There was no community service on days when it rained, and the vans would randomly never show up for the day. For these reasons it took me over 2 years to complete my community service hours.
The people that I encountered during community service allowed me learn about the rampant inequality that persists in the criminal justice system. I met a woman named Rosalina, an undocumented immigrant who came from Mexico 10 years prior to escape an abusive husband and find work. She was given 100 hours of community service as punishment for stealing baby formula to care for her infant. That contrasted greatly with a 23 year old graduate from a prestigious university who came from a wealthy family and could afford the best attorneys to defend him. He was convicted of manslaughter resulting from a drunk driving incident and received just 300 hours of community service plus some time in rehab. Rosalina’s life has arguably been ruined because of a petty crime committed with good intentions, whereas this entitled, irresponsible man who actually killed somebody essentially received the same punishment.
I learned about leadership, maturity and passion during my career in marketing and time volunteering at a legal aid non-profit. At my first full time position I learned leadership when I was promoted to Marketing Manager overseeing a team of 12 employees as well as redeveloping the company’s entire marketing program. This prepared me for my current role where I learned maturity. My current career has honed my leadership and management skills, taught me how to analyze and present complex data, sharpened my creativity, showed me how to work effectively in a team, and taught me invaluable time management skills. However, my marketing career has left me unsatisfied, and the experiences I had after my conviction made me understand the challenges low-income people face, particularly within the criminal justice system, and convinced me that my passion lies in legal advocacy for the disenfranchised. Volunteering at a legal aid non-profit solidified my decision to pursue a career as a public interest attorney and one day create my own non-profit legal aid organization with a focus on criminal defense to help the indigent. My non-profit would ensure that they get the attention their cases deserve, and at the same time would free up resources for public defenders so that they could argue their cases more effectively.
I would have never guessed that manufacturing fake IDs for college students would take me on a journey that would reshape my life and give me a completely different perspective on the world. Through this journey I have met good people that the legal system has failed, and witnessed firsthand the pernicious unfairness and inequality that exists within it. The journey has revealed to me injustices that I would have never imagined had occurred, and crystallized my resolve to change the system through being a legal advocate to the disenfranchised.
